"Time is the last frontier of music."
- Conlon Nancarrow

• Tonal and non-tonal music theory
• Issues of rhythm and time in contemporary music
• Music by women composers
• Music theory pedagogy

Professor Thomas has a particular interest in the rhythmic practices of contemporary music, with a special focus on the music of the highly inventive twentieth-century composer Conlon Nancarrow. She examines Nancarrow's use of rhythmic complexity in the context of broader concerns shared by many contemporary composers regarding the temporal organization of music. She has presented her research at annual meetings of the Rocky Mountain Society for Music Theory, Music Theory Midwest, and Music Theory Southeast. She has articles and reviews published or forthcoming in Journal of Music Theory, Perspectives of New Music, Intégral, and the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

Prior to her arrival at Connecticut College, Thomas taught at Rutgers University. Devoted to teaching, she strives to share with her students the power music theory, aural skills, and analysis have to open new paths for understanding and performing music. Courses include: The Creative World of Music, Tonal Theory, Twentieth-Century Theory, and Music Analysis.

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